Friday, September 29, 2006

Mexican Flag Flown Higher Than American Flag

***Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog***

Source: lcsunnews

SANTA TERESA — Just across from the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, within sight of the U.S. Border Patrol building, the sand dunes and mesquite don't pay much attention to international borders.

But some of those who work in the area of the Verde Santa Teresa Bi-National industrial park are very aware of the border, and what it means to be on the northern side.

The park, which houses several facilities built to accommodate suppliers, custom brokers and logistics companies that serve manufacturing facilities in Juárez, flies three flags at the entryway — those of the United States, Mexico and the state of New Mexico.

The rub lies in the fact the American flag is flown slightly lower than that of Mexico, Hildegard Reisencheid said.

"I don't think the Mexican flag should be flown higher than the American flag," said the 48-year-old naturalized American. "This is the American side and I just don't think that's right."

You tell'em Hildy!

Also, if you'll note the pic above, shouldn't the US flag be in the center? I'm unsure if there's any rule on that or if it's just what I'm used to seeing.

The Congressional Research Service on the U.S. Flag Code, Section 7, in part states: "No other flag should be placed above the United States of America" when flags of multiple countries are flown together. Later, the code states "When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace."

"I don't go flying my German flag above the American flag," Reisencheid said. "I've been in the United States for 30 years. It's a lack of respect. I think it's just because it is in a remote location, a lot of people have not noticed it."

Ernie Vasquez, an Army veteran, agreed.

"As a citizen, I see it as an insult to our country," he said. "There is some disrespect to the flag."

Vasquez, a member of the American Legion Post 36 in El Paso, said he would prefer to see the American flag flown on an equal level as the Mexican flag.

"I don't see why they should be flying another country's flag higher than ours," he said. "I was born here in the U.S. I'm an American first, then later on I am what I am — a human and an ethnic group. That's what I feel."

I think Ernie should win a kewpie doll! That's exactly right, and if more people took that attitude these days we wouldn't be having a lot of the problems we currently enjoy.

H/T Dusty Inman Society

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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Our Good Friends?

***Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog***

Source: cbs2.com
2 Mexican customs inspectors arrested in cross-border tunnel dig

SAN DIEGO (AP) Mexican federal police arrested two customs officials and three others on charges of digging a secret tunnel that was presumably to be used for funneling drugs to the United States, authorities said Wednesday.

The tunnel, which stretched about 25 yards on land owned by the Mexican customs authority, did not cross the U.S.-Mexico border. It was about 100 yards from the San Ysidro border crossing, which connects Tijuana and San Diego.

Federal police captured a customs inspector, identified as Ruben Contreras, 32, and three other men Tuesday morning ``in flagrante'' as they were working on the tunnel, said Luis Cabrera, Mexico's consul general in San Diego.

One of the three men, Carlos Lopez, 27, oversaw the construction, while the two other men were paid $20 a night to dig, according to Mexican Department of Public Safety.

A customs supervisor, Jesus Roberto Giron Rodriguez, was later arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot, Cabrera said.

Contreras allegedly told authorities that Giron directed him to stand watch at the tunnel's mouth while the other men dug overnight.

Authorities have discovered about 40 secret tunnels on the U.S.-Mexico border since they began keeping track after Sept. 11, 2001, the vast majority in and around San Diego and Nogales, Ariz.
When president Bush talks about "our good friend and neighbor Mexico," is this part of that deal?

H/T The Stein Report

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Illegal Freeloaders Steal Healthcare

***Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog***

Source: KGBT4 News (H/T Immigration News Daily)

They just walk into the E-R and deliver a baby.

No questions asked because by law physicians like those at Starr County Memorial Hospital have to accept someone who is an emergency and labor in this case is an emergency.

But the problem is the number of undocumented immigrants they see has doubled to more than 25 a month.

"That's an issue that ties up resources, time and alot of effort and it is also not good for the patient that does that," Dr. Antonio Falcon said.

Dr. Falcon is a member of the U.S.-Mexican Border Health Commission and says that if immigrants can't pay for the services, they can apply for Emergency Medicaid or just leave and not pay a thing.
Let me get this straight. I work a full-time job. I pay my taxes. I have a pretty standard PPO healthcare plan. Right now I'm paying for my healthcare AND the healthcare of illegal aliens who aren't even supposed to be here in the first place.

Maybe I should quit my job and renounce my citizenship. Then I could get free healthcare myself. Well -- free for me. You law-abiding American citizens out there wouldn't mind paying my way, right?

"You need to get policy makers that can understand that we have an open border where - a dynamic border where people basically come and go and so some how or another we need to address the issue," Dr. Falcon said.

He says if this had an easy solution, it would have already happened, but citizens and physicians must get involved.

Something this hospital hopes happens soon before it's too late.

"It could turn into a really big problem if we continue to see what we're seeing now." Thalia said.
Problem, schmoblem! Everyone knows that the American people are a bottomless supply of money for the rest of the world. And, lest we forget, we have a government full of treasonous elected officials who are desperately trying to give this great country away to remind us.

Technorati Tags
Illegal Immigration * Illegal Aliens * Healthcare * Freeloaders

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Meet The new Boss...

Same as the old boss...

Here's a charming two'fer to remind us just exactly what our good friends in Mexico think of American sovereignty...

Source: NYTimes
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon on Monday slammed U.S. plans to build more fences on its southern border, saying it would not solve illegal immigration.

''We are worried ... about the actions that the United States is discussing concerning building a border wall and tightening restrictions on migrants,'' Calderon said after meeting with Mexico's foreign secretary.

The U.S. Senate is debating legislation to build 700 miles of fence on the U.S.-Mexico border along with other security measures, which the House has already passed.

President Vicente Fox, of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, has called the plans ''shameful'' and said the fence would be like the Berlin Wall. Calderon succeeds Fox on Dec. 1.

There are an estimated 11 million Mexicans in the United States, about half of whom are illegal. Last year, Mexican migrants sent home more than $20 billion in remittances.
But wait, there's more...

Source: Axcessnews
In a move that has many proponents of tough US border security and illegal immigration reforms scratching their heads in puzzlement, Mexican President Vincente Fox recently retained the services of a well-known Republican strategist to help stop the rising tide of public outcry over poor border security and rampant illegal immigration.

President Fox reportedly rehired the public relations man and GOP political consultant who is credited with helping Fox win the presidency in 2000. Fox wants Rob Allyn to curtail what he perceives as a growing anti-immigration political juggernaut, especially when it comes to illegal aliens from Mexico.
Jaggernaut? Sweet!

H/T beyond borders blog

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A Really Good Post!

Mr. Hawkins @ Right Wing News has a barnburner up on illegal immigration, a taste...
First of all, if you can't bring in your crops without illegal aliens, your business is a criminal enterprise and you should either go straight or go out of business. In fact, I'm glad to hear that these businesses lost money for lack of illegal aliens. In my book, if you've been fattening your profits by willfully disregarding the law, then you're getting your just desserts if you lose money when your source of illicit income dries up.
Smokin'!

Read it all here.

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On the History and Tradition of Sanctuary

***Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog ***

Ted Olsen has a great article -- Asylum vs. Assistance: Offering sanctuary isn't about political protest -- up over at Christianity Today. In it he compares the history of sanctuary policy to the way it is being used (read: misused) today by the likes of Elvira Arellano and her socialist buddies.

A taste...

Meanwhile, Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago is housing Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico whose son is a U.S. citizen. "It seemed like a good option to give her a holy space to continue a campaign of civil disobedience against an unfair law that is separating families throughout this country," explained pastor Walter Coleman, who banned opponents from attending his church's services. "I fear God much more than I fear Homeland Security."
And talk about something I can agree with...

"Faith provides no warrant to break laws just because we disapprove of them," Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet responded in the Chicago Tribune. Coleman, he argued, is no heir to abolitionist minister Theodore Parker, who offered sanctuary to escaped slaves. "As sympathetic as we might be to Elvira Arellano's plight, there is no natural human right to enter or remain in the United States, or to live in one country as opposed to another."
Read the whole thing. It's good stuff!

Technorati Tags
Illegal Immigration * Illegal Aliens * Sanctuary * Elvira Arellano

Monday, September 25, 2006

Take Your Blood Pressure Meds Before You Read This

Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog

Source: AccessNorthGA (H/T: Immigration News Daily)

When Jason Smith contacted the Internal Revenue Service to find out why his $600 tax refund hadn't arrived, he received a nasty surprise: The government was waiting for him to pony up $12,000 in back taxes.

As it turned out, the Danielsville, Ga., man was not to blame. Another "Jason Smith" racked up the unpaid taxes. An illegal immigrant named Nohe Gomez Hernandez had used Smith's Social Security number to get a job at a chicken plant in Bethlehem, Ga., and worked there under that false name for at least three years, long enough to be promoted from line worker to supervisor.
Awful enough, right? But wait 'til you hear what Hernandez's lawyer is arguing:

Defense attorney Jana Whaley of Royston, Ga., contends that Hernandez' actions aren't covered by the state law, which was created to keep people from stealing others' personal information and using it to pillage bank accounts or run up credit card bills.

*SNIP*

Hernandez used Smith's name and Social Security number solely to get a job for his family and never tried to interfere with Smith's credit or accounts, Whaley said.
Yes. You read that right. His attorney had the gall to state that because Hernandez used the stolen social security number of Jason Smith to work, not run up credit card bills, he hasn't committed identity theft.

However...

After the IRS told Smith that he owed the government thousands in back taxes, he requested his work history from the federal agency. It said that Smith, who works in a commissary at the Navy School in Athens, Ga., was also working at Harrison Poultry, about 20 miles away in Bethlehem, Ga.

The IRS said Smith owed back taxes because the two full-time jobs under his name forced him into a higher tax bracket, said District Attorney Robert Lavender.
So this poor guy's taxes were screwed up because Hernandez stole his social security number. That was no accident. Smith is going through this whole ordeal because Hernandez stole his social security number and, therefore, his identity.

Hernandez "was known by his employer as Jason Smith and even had the nerve to meet with law enforcement in a smock that had the name 'Jason' sewn on. No doubt, the appellant intended to assume the identity of the victim," Assistant District Attorney James Webb wrote in a court brief.
Give me a break. It doesn't get any clearer than this.

Can attorneys get any more disgustingly, despicably slimy than trying to get an illegal alien off the hook for stealing the identity of an American citizen?

Never mind. Don't asnwer that.

Technorati Tags
Illegal Immigration * Illegal Aliens * Identity Theft * Crime

Guard The Borders Blogburst

This Blogburst is also available as a Podcast.

by Toni at Bear Creek Ledger

All of these stories were found in the last couple days posted to Lucianne.

'Border Baby' boom strains S. Texas - There's a picture with the story of an illegal alien who's given birth to her fourth child on American soil at American taxpayer expense who thinks it's owed to her!

Of course the real story is how 'anchor babies' are breaking the backs of South Texas hospitals.

Doctors and health officials say they are overwhelmed by both the new arrivals and those immigrant mothers who already are in the state. Even Houston's feeling the pinch. An estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the 10,587 births at Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital last year were to undocumented immigrants, administrators say.

Also feeling the strain is Starr County, an already poor South Texas county that has the region's only taxpayer-supported hospital district.

Immigrants "want a U.S.-born baby" and know that emergency room staffers don't collect any money up front, said Dr. Mario Rodriguez, an obstetrician in Starr County.

"The word is out: Come to Starr County and get delivered for free. Why pay $1,000 in Mexico when you can get it for free?" Rodriguez said.

This story is more than disconcerting. Gives me a lot of confidence in ICE/DHS! The corruption is disheartening, read the list and weep.

Corruption Involving Immigration Workers:

In the past 12 months, dozens of U.S. immigration employees have been accused of corruption-related charges. Some cases, drawn from a review of court records and government announcements, and listed by agency:

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

- David Duque Jr., a Border Patrol agent since the mid-1990s, faces up to 15 years in prison at his November sentencing after pleading guilty to bribery and the unlawful transfer of documents. While being recorded by investigators, Duque sold some 70 identification documents to a source cooperating with law officers - including passports, birth certificates, green cards and Social Security cards. He also took a $5,000 bribe to allow cocaine through a highway checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas.

snip......

U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT

- Santiago Efrain Valle, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, Texas, was charged in March with trying to extort $20,000 from an immigration detainee at the El Paso Service Processing Center. Federal agents arrested Valle after he allegedly accepted $20,000 from undercover officers. According to court documents, Valle agreed to accept the money in exchange for dismissing pending immigration charges against the detainee and also changing his risk classification. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

snip.....

U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

- Robert Schofield, a USCIS district office supervisor in Fairfax, Va., was arrested in June, accused of illegally granting residency and issuing naturalization certificates to more than 100 unqualified immigrants. Qiming Ye, a Chinese citizen, also was charged for allegedly brokering deals between Schofield and Asian immigrants. One unqualified immigrant was granted residency status after meeting Schofield's wife in the Philippines, and then living with Schofield and baby-sitting his stepchild for a year, a court affidavit alleges. When stopped by Customs officials at an airport, the immigrant provided Schofield's name, cell phone and home telephone number from memory, the affidavit said. Passports seized from Ye's residence included green card stamps bearing Schofield's ID, and phone traces showed dozens of calls between Ye and Schofield's home number and his Department of Homeland Security cell phone, the court documents allege. "Numerous" allegations of bribery involving Schofield have been reported in the last decade, an investigator said in an affidavit. A trial date is pending.

I've only posted one of each area from the story. There's many more in the story and the dollars involved can be staggering.

Then we have more great news from ICE/DHS. Told of immigrant arrests, Feds often failing to act:

The lack of response by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has fostered confusion among municipal officials already resentful of being designated as surrogate federal agents in the national policy debate over illegal immigrants.

This comes at a time when a suspected illegal immigrant who was once in Denver police custody stands accused of dragging a woman to death behind his vehicle. There are conflicting reports as to whether Denver police notified immigration officials after he was arrested in April.

Law-enforcement agencies in Colorado placed 9,429 inquiries about suspected illegal immigrants to ICE in the 2005 accounting year. ICE requested detainment for 330 of those suspects, according to agency statistics.

This year, ICE has received 13,063 inquiries from Colorado authorities, placing holds on 284.

Well that really confirms the story from TBone's buddy!

Now this is a story which gives me a modicum of hope.

GA Lawmaker may apologize to Latino's

A Georgia Republican says he'll apologize to a national Latino advocacy group he accused of supporting racism and illegal immigration if the organization agrees to a list of conditions.

In a press release this week, Rep. Charlie Norwood called the National Council of La Raza a "radical," "anti-American" organization that "supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland."

In offering a conditional apology, Norwood asked NCLR to sever all ties with a leftist student group and its "racist doctrines," to repudiate all claims that any American territory belongs to Mexico, and to seek outside supervision to ensure that NCLR-sponsored programs do not discriminate.

La Raza uses all the typical name calling of the left when they are in the wrong and have nothing left to use in their defense except for race-baiting.

Cry me a river on this story. I know, that's harsh but I'm sick and tired of the woe is me illegal alien injured illegally crossing the border into the US; then the American taxpayer has to pick up the tab for their medical expenses.

Woman finds scaling fence is a costly painful gamble:

A U.S. Border Patrol agent crouches in front of her. He slowly wraps her severed ring finger in a shirt. He places it in a bag of ice.

"I knew I couldn't do it, I knew I couldn't do it," she says quietly in Spanish to the man sitting next to her, Victor Perez.

Rosario, 25, and Perez, 24, sit with their heads down on a frontage road next to a 10-foot corrugated steel fence that marks the border south of Campo, Calif., about 50 miles east of San Diego.

About one hour earlier, the two climbed over the landing-mat fence as part of a group of Mexican illegal entrants.

The men and women helped each person climb over. Rosario caught her hand on the razor-sharp anvil point on top of the fence.

When she fell to the ground on the U.S. side, pain shot up her arm. Her hand was bleeding. The top third of her ring finger lay on the ground.

Just what do these illegal aliens think the fence is there for? It's To. Keep. Them. Out!

My BS meter sprang wildly out of control when I read this piece of scare mongering:

ID Program Will Cost States $11 Billion, Report says:

The cost to consumers for helping to secure America became clearer yesterday as a coalition of state groups tallied the bill for implementing the Real ID Act and federal officials divulged the price that some of its workers must pay for new smart cards.

In a report released by the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, state motor vehicle officials estimated it would cost more than $11 billion over five years to implement the technology required by the Real ID Act.

Under the law, states must start to re-enroll about 250 million holders of U.S. driver's licenses after May 2008. The states must train workers to verify copies of original birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage certificates and various identification documents.

There's any number of ID's which could be incorporated into this program including a Voter ID! But the Democrats don't want any of this to happen since it would mean losing potential voters from the likes of illegal aliens, dead people, people voting twice......

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who introduced the Real ID Act, strongly disagreed with a similar cost estimate presented by the groups last year, saying it was bloated. The chairman cited a Congressional Budget Office report that estimated the cost of implementation at $100 million between 2005 and 2010.

The dollars saved on entitlement and social services and law enforcement to illegal aliens will more than cover the cost of this ID program.

Then we have the jailbreak from a detention center. This story was actually a bit confusing. There were 6 federal fugitives from this escape (which begs the question why these fugitives were only being held in a detention center) of which 5 of the six were held for repeated immigration violations (read: illegal aliens who have been deported multiple times). The sixth was a former McAllen cop gone bad, now a drug smuggler.

Outside help seen in Valley jailbreak:

The breakout's suspected leader is a former McAllen cop facing drug charges. Five Mexican nationals held on repeated immigration violations escaped with him.

snip....

He said investigators believe Francisco Javier Meza Rojas, 41, orchestrated the breakout.

"The only reason why we think he was the ringleader was because he had the money," Magallan said. "He could have arranged everything. He was (in the narcotics business) and a former cop."

A federal indictment from April alleges Meza, also known as "El Ocho" and "Chacho," led a drug trafficking organization that included his three brothers. U.S. District Judge Randy Crane on Thursday revoked the bond of one of them, Jesus Meza, a former Edinburg police officer.

The three now are being held in jails in McAllen, Raymondville and Karnes County, Magallan said.

The Mezas, along with other defendants, are scheduled to be tried in October on drug charges that include trafficking cocaine and marijuana from a rural area near Mission.

Yeah, that makes me feel real secure. Nice to know how prosperous the Mexican drug trade is in the US.

_____________________________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

SOS Protest National City: Elderly SOS'er Pushed Down By Police And Arrested

Source: SOS

Members of SOS and the Minutemen protested the proposed sanctuary law of National City today, another formerly American city...


Ooooh, so scary these MM and SOS folks.


And of course, the surest way to signify your undying love to your new homeland is to wave the Mexican flag? (In studying the photos again I cannot find a single American flag on the other side, quick, let's give them amnesty!)


Just a dab of the crazy reconquista sentiment'll do ya! (It's a little hard to make out, I know, guy in the middle, his sign reads..."Got history, this IS Mexican land")


Man, the other side was a bunch of clowns, literally!


An elderly member of SOS was pushed to the ground by the police then arrested for same.

Video here. Another angle here. (The video is a little chaotic, I watched it several times and the police clearly give a command to move then immediately push forward with their nightsticks extended crosswise. But it is clear they knock the guy down and then yank him out and cuff him.)


A final thought.

Many more pix and reports here.

Helluva job guys! We're mighty proud of ya!

As seen @

The conservative cat Outside the beltway The crazy ass rants of Samantha Burns The bullwinkle blog Stuck on stupid Third world county Clash of civilizations Is it just me?
Bluestar chronicles Random yak

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Roundup

A roundup of the latest news, opinion, and other interesting stuff...

National City's Mayor Criticized: Sanctuary Plan Called "Whimsy"
Shooting Raises Issue of Policing Immigrants
Homeland Security Seeks Verification of Employee Citizenship Status
Black Clergy Demand Justice for Arellano
Hazelton Mayor Signs New Immigration Law (Hat Tip: Immigration News Daily)
War Between the U.S. and Mexico?
Statue of Liberty No Longer a Symbol of Freedom
Welcome to Legal and Law-Abiding Immigrants

Welcome!

Welcome to all readers. The Chicago Minuteman Project is happy to be joining the blogosphere to provide news, thoughts, and a place to talk about all things illegal immigration. Thanks for joining us!